Hi Annabel,
Welcome to your personalized Grit Lab Report!
We will go week by week, reviewing everything you have told us through Poll Everywhere.
We hope this will help you reflect on what you have learned and experienced during Grit Lab.
Important note!
Sometimes, you may not have been able to respond to all polls.
If the data for one of the polls is missing, the automatic report will display NA, or ““.
Okay, let’s get started!
The first half of Grit Lab delves deep intp the passion facet of Grit.
We like to call it Choose Easy, because we think gritty people pursue what they enjoy.
Putting it graphically, gritty people tend to pursue the intersection of these four circles.
The first time we met, you told us where you were on the grit rubric.
Regarding passion you picked Stage 3: I’m actively figuring out what my interests are by trying one or more of them out in some way .
Regarding perseverance you picked .
As you know, grit grows, so don’t worry if you are not yet where you’d like to be in your grit journey.
Hopefully, this class will help you become grittier each day.
In week 2, we looked at your interests.
Interest is an emotion, and it is the opposite of boredom.
Your interests are the activities or subjects that spontaneously grab your attention.
Trying things out and seeing how you feel is the best way to refine your interests.
In week 3, we studied values, your beliefs about what is important.
You said your top three values were NA, NA, and NA.
You wrote a “This I Believe” essay, and here’s where you located it on Schwartz’s value taxonomy.
When we talked about strengths in week 4, you said your personality strength was openness.
You said your top three talents were analytic, verbal, and artistic / spatial.
We then talked about goal hierarchies.
You said you had a general intuition (but nothing specific yet) about your top-level goal.
We discussed self-concordance, or how much a goal aligns to your deeply held values and beliefs.
A goal you said you will be pursuing for the next six months is to apply to grad school .
Here is how self-concordant that goal was:
Don’t worry if your self-concordance for that particular goal is low.
It might mean that you need to reframe that goal in a way that makes it more relevant to your deep self, or change it!
Remember that self-concordance is goal specific, so other goals might be more self-concordant.
We then transitioned to the second part of Grit Lab:
Work Smart
In week 6, we looked at goal setting and planning.
You WOOPed!
For your Wish, what you wanted to accomplish, you said research 3 phd programs .
For your Outcome, what would happen if your wish came true, you said i’ll feel less anxious .
For you Obstacle, what it is within you that stands in your way, you said i become overwhelmed .
For your Plan, you created this when-then plan to achieve your goal: when i finish breakfast on friday, then i’ll open my laptop and google docs .
Whether you changed your WOOP or stuck to that one, here’s where it landed between being a total fail, and going exactly according to plan.
And here’s how much you learned
These goals are hard, and despite our best efforts, our plans can fail.
The important thing is that you learn something along the way!
In week 7, we talked about deliberate practice.
You shared you’ve done daily practice in gym .
We learned that deliberate practice requires a challenging, hyperspecific goal, maximum concentration, instant feedback, and is often done alone.
In week 8, we discussed feedback.
Even though feedback can be hard to take, it is often the key to improve. So if you want to improve, seek it actively!
You said you felt anxious when receiving critical feedback, and anxious when receiving positive feedback.
We then turned to learning about stress.
In week 9, you reported feeling a lot of stress in your life right now, the primary source of it being wasting my life .
We also talked about adversity and failure.
Although related, adversity and failure are different:
Adversity happens to us, whereas failure is something for which we are generally more responsible.
However, how we interpret stress and failure matters…
Interestingly, research has found that people who believe that stress can facilitate learning and growth experience enhanced performance, well-being, and health.
And failure—not achieving a particular goal—can be interpreted as “I’m learning!” and lead you to look for the lesson in that experience.
We closed the Work Smart section of the class by talking about habits.
Throughout the semester, you practice habit building using your Build-A-Habit Guide book.
You describe the habit you chose as Health .
Whether you were successful in habit building or not, this is how much you learned.
Finally, what good is grit if we do not dream for others?
So, we transitioned to Paying it Forward.
In week 10, we looked at mentors: role models that take an active role in your growth.
Hopefully, your mentor was authoritative, being both supportive and demanding.
Here’s how you described them:
You also wrote a gratitude letter to Other .
In one word, you said it made you feel flustered .
One way of paying it forward is having a prosocial, beyond-the-self purpose. Here’s how you responded to items assessing that.
… and so quickly we arrived at the end of the semester.
Here’s how your mood varied over these weeks.
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Do you notice any patterns? Is there anything that correlates with your mood?
Here you can scroll through all the quotes you wrote to summarize each class.
| |
| Talent x effort = skill |
| interest is an emotion |
| learning rate depends on what you already know. |
| goal is a desired future state. |
| the more specific the goal or plan, the better. |
| talent can only get you so far, deliberate practice matters most. |
| future oriented advice is more helpful. |
| how you appraise a situation can change how you feel about it. |
| don't rely on willpower! |
| role models provide information and motivation. |
| if i am only for myself, then who am i? |
In the final class, we looked back to everything we’ve learned together and to how our passion and perseverance evolved during this class.
Here are the comments from your Grit Lab Teammates:
| |
| Sarah Tran |
| Annabel's presence in our team is like a breath of fresh air; her open-mindedness and authenticity are not just admirable but also infectious. She brings a unique blend of honesty and expressiveness to every discussion, making the air around us more vibrant and alive. Her creative approaches to in-class prompts and discussions aren't just innovative; they're a window into her colorful thought process, showcasing her ability to think outside the box. I deeply appreciate how Annabel always makes room for others' opinions, showing a level of respect and consideration that elevates our team dynamics.
Annabel's Discovery project was a remarkable blend of theoretical concepts and personal passion, which made it incredibly captivating. Her integration of deliberate practice and planning into the theme of obstacle course racing and fitness was ingenious. This topic, brimming with creativity and uniqueness, resonates with me on a personal level, making the whole presentation not just educational but also deeply engaging. Annabel's eloquence in presenting her ideas was impressive, making complex concepts seem accessible and interesting. Her slides, a visual treat, were aesthetically pleasing, reflecting the same creativity and attention to detail that she brings to every aspect of her work. Her ability to weave together theoretical knowledge with a topic as dynamic and unconventional as obstacle course racing highlighted not just her intellectual acumen but also her innovative spirit. |
| Nikita Venugopal |
| Annabel is one of the most effortlessly cool people I have ever met. Her dry humor is hilarious and something I strive to develop. In all of our conversations as a team, Annabel has always seemed both entirely real and honest -- never attempting to be anyone but herself. I admire how she clearly cares so much for her loved ones, including her roommates, her family, and her friends. I know Annabel will do incredible things within her chosen field of neuroscience and within all of her other pursuits, but I also hope that she will continue drawing. The doodles that I have seen of hers are fantastic.
Annabel's discovery project was so interesting to hear about. I did not know that Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) was even a thing before she presented, and her short 5 minute presentation was enough for me to develop a deep respect for anyone who does it. I really appreciated Annabel's commitment to her project -- including her intense workouts and her eventual completion of a race. It would be an understatement to say that it takes drive to work out from 6-8am for 5 days a week, especially when those workouts include weighted pull-ups. I also thought it was adorable that Annabel's love for sports and physical activity is something she shares with her dad, and I am glad she included that in her presentation. |
| Tanmayee Talla |
| Annabel, thank you for being my go-to partner in Grit Lab! We were teammates for almost every single pair and share, and I always had a great time chatting with you. We were always on the same wavelength coming into class, and I always enjoyed the way you took notes with such creativity haha!! I'm really happy we got to meet, and best of luck with graduation and beyond!!
As for your Discovery project, I will forever be in awe of your exercise discipline and hope to embody that in my own life. My main takeaway from your Discovery Project was about your insight into working on your weaknesses in the gym rather than just focusing on your strengths. I also enjoyed learning about your inspiration, your dad, for OCR. |
We hope you have emerged from Grit Lab a little grittier than you started.
Do you want to see how your grit rubric changed?
Drumroll please…
Don’t worry if the rubric doesn’t yet reflect growth. It is only a coarse measure that cannot replace your own self-reflection.
In any case, grit is not built in a day…
…remember that progress is never smooth…
…so stay passionate and persevering in the lifelong quest of choosing easy, working smart, and paying it forward.
With grit and gratitude,
Angela and the Grit Lab team.